Chapter 229: Tracking the Grudge Spirit

The next night, Lei En spent more than two hours walking through the districts where transcendent gather in his domain, using his Soul Eye to screen thousands of pedestrians, yet still found nothing.

Passing the Great Hammer Arena, he saw the sign of the tavern across the street.

"Crossroads."

Having played cards until midnight last night, he was familiar with this tavern; looking up, he saw Ding Laji and Bo Lin again seated at a table by the railing on the third‑floor platform, drinking and playing cards.

"Why am I here again?" Lei En muttered.

He was about to turn and leave when Ding Laji saw him, stood up, waved, and flashed the cards in his hand as a signal to come up.

Lei En hesitated a few seconds, then moved his steps toward the tavern.

"Just two rounds, as a break," he thought, "then I'll resume the search later."

Several hours later.

Lei En stepped out of the tavern, gazing at the deep night sky, silently admonishing himself: "Lei En, Lei En, your domain faces the threat of an Undead Wizard; how can you be so lax? Tomorrow you cannot continue like this."

A week later.

On the third‑floor platform of the Crossroads Tavern, Lei En clutched a Myriad Spirit Card, his gaze focused, silently calculating his opponent's hand.

On the table before him lay a dozen Gold Shields and several hundred Silver Kron.

These were winnings from tonight's games, part from Ding Laji and Bo Lin, and most from other patrons who lost money.

In recent days, news arrived at the Crossroads Tavern of a Myriad Spirit Card Master, and it has spread through the transcendent's small circles.

Every day, eager challengers come to test their skill, yet none can win money from the Demon Hunter named "Fan Haixin."

At first, some players could, thanks to high‑quality cards and decent luck, occasionally win a round or two.

Later, Fan Haixin amassed many rare cards, his technique becoming ever more refined, making it harder for others to beat him.

After more than a thousand rounds, Fan Haixin lost fewer than thirty times, his win rate terrifyingly high.

At that moment, the opponent opposite him had a complexion as ugly as constipation.

Lei En remained expressionless, playing his final card.

"You lose."

The onlookers all sighed in unison; they had witnessed this scene countless times in recent days—every time it seemed Fan Haixin would lose, he was always just a hair short.

The opponent opposite him felt resentful but was helpless.

He pulled out every coin from his wallet, tossed them onto the table, and gloomily returned to his seat to drink.

Lei En scanned the room, found no new challengers, then packed away the cards, took out a bag, and stored the Gold Shields and Silver Kron.

Ding Laji's face was full of envy: "If I had your skill, I wouldn't have gone days without meat."

His pockets are cleaner than his face now, not a single copper coin, and even the drinks are on Bo Lin's tab.

Bo Lin isn't much better; he's just more restrained.

Lei En wasn't particularly concerned with the money; every half‑minute his gaze covertly swept the street below, saying, "When will you repay the debt you owe me?"

These past few days of card games, Ding Laji not only lost all his money but also racked up a huge debt to him.

"Uh…" Ding Laji was instantly at a loss, sneering, "Fan Haixin, you're not short of money anyway, give me a few more days of leniency."

Seeing Fan Haixin unmoved, he pounded his chest, "I told you before I took on a big mission; these days of card‑playing are just me waiting for the target to appear. Once the mission's done, I'll have money to pay you right away."

"At most three days," Lei En said coldly.

Card‑playing aside, he hadn't truly forgotten his business; feigning boredom, his Soul Eye scanned back and forth below.

"Three days…"

Ding Laji scratched his chin, conflicted, thought for a moment, as if reaching a decision: "Fan Haixin, if I let you join this mission, the debt I owe you will be erased and the bounty split evenly, how about it?"

Before Lei En could answer, Bo Lin objected.

"Weren't we supposed to be just the two of us?" he stared at Ding Laji, his wolf‑like eyes full of displeasure, lowering his voice: "The bounty is only 1,500 Gold Shields and we'd have to split it three ways—that's pointless. Besides, we have no idea how strong he is…"

"He's at least a senior Demon Hunter; he might be stronger than you."

Ding Laji said confidently, reassuring, "Going as three gives us more certainty; at worst I take a bit less, your bounty stays the same."

"That's reasonable enough," Bo Lin grudgingly agreed, though his gaze at Lei En remained skeptical.

Lei En listened to their conversation and muttered scornfully to himself.

He had clearly set a bounty of 3,000 Gold Shields; Ding Laji's share was cut in half, and Bo Lin was being swindled out of a huge sum without realizing it.

"What mission?" Lei En pretended to be very interested.

"Your kind of Demon Hunters' specialty, tracking and hunting monsters," Ding Laji whispered barely audible, "but not ordinary monsters—an Undead Wizard…"

Before he could finish, he suddenly twitched his nose twice.

He was hideously scarred, his nose having been sliced off halfway years ago, leaving two black holes where nostrils should be, yet his sense of smell was extremely keen; after a few dog‑like twitches, his complexion shifted slightly and he whispered, "Your luck is great, the target has appeared."

Bo Lin perked up and sat up: "Where?"

"Don't look around everywhere, keep drinking," Ding Laji said calmly, a hint of confident smile at the corner of his mouth, "He won't get away."

Lei En also raised his cup and drank, his peripheral vision scanning the street.

Without Ding Laji pointing it out, he also spotted the target.

On the opposite side of the street where the Great Hammer Arena stood, a cargo cart ambled over and stopped in front of an alchemy shop.

The driver was a young man, about twenty‑five, clad in leather armor with a longsword at his side, agile and light, who leapt down from the cart and entered the shop.

A keen observer could tell at once that he was a ranger.

Lei En's Soul Eye pierced deep, seeing more clearly: this was a second‑rank ranger, of average strength, unremarkable and inconspicuous.

However, the opponent's soul state was abnormal, bound by another pale soul that pressed down mercilessly.

"A grudge spirit possesses!"

Lei En instantly recognized it: the young ranger was possessed by a grudge spirit.

A grudge spirit is a type of undead creature; they are pure energy beings, unafraid of physical attacks, using their cold, death‑laden energy to assault the living, and they enjoy attaching to living hosts to control their movements.

Every Undead Wizard summons a resentful spirit to serve them.

As long as one tracks this resentful spirit, one will inevitably locate the Undead Wizard's whereabouts.

Lei En couldn't help but glance at Ding Laji; this Demon sorcerer was impressive—over a hundred meters away, and even at night, he managed to detect the resentful spirit.

A person possessed by a resentful spirit shows no outward difference, looking almost identical to a normal human.

Lei En thought to himself that without the Soul Eye, he would also find it hard to detect.

The three continued drinking; Ding Laji even cheerfully told a lewd joke, provoking bursts of laughter from several nearby tables.

Only when he occasionally glanced at that alchemy shop did a hint of caution appear in his eyes.

Soon after.

A young ranger emerged from the shop, followed by a few laborers who lifted a dozen or so crates of alchemical materials onto a cart, respectfully seeing the youth off.

The cart receded farther, disappearing at the far end of the street.

"Come with me."

Ding Laji instantly rose, took Lei En and Bolin downstairs, and left the crossroad tavern.

The three pursued along the street.

Moments later they were far from the Great Hammer Arena, turning onto a more secluded road lacking streetlights, surrounded by darkness, with hardly any pedestrians in sight.

The cart had long vanished.

Even with the Soul Eye, Lei En could not see; his view was blocked by various objects on the ground.

However, Ding Laji was in no hurry; every half‑minute he twitched his nose, his steps showing no hesitation, clearly confident in his sense of smell.

Bolin, while running, couldn't help asking, "Are you sure we aren't chasing the wrong one?"

"Obvious," Ding Laji snapped at Bolin's doubt, humming, "A Hellhound's nose can identify the vast majority of scents in the world, especially those of Abyss‑related demons; even a thousand steps away I can smell the stench on an Undead."

Lei En gave him a glance; he had known all along.

A Demon sorcerer's power comes from Demons; they rely on the Demon Codex, a unique meditative medium, to enslave Demon souls and inscribe runes on their bodies with Demon blood.

In battle, they can both summon a Demon and let it possess them to augment themselves.

This cultivation method resembles that of a Ten Thousand Spirits Wizard, but is limited to Demons, and the number summoned is fewer; a moment of carelessness could invite a Demon's backlash, plunging one into the Abyss.

A Demon sorcerer can enslave one Demon per level gained.

Each rank advancement allows one additional Demon to be summoned in combat; Ding Laji, a high‑rank sorcerer, can summon up to three Demons simultaneously, any more and it would become uncontrollable.

Ding Laji has enslaved and fused eight Demons, one of which is a Hellhound.

These past few days while playing cards, he constantly employed the Hellhound's sense of smell, continuously discerning scents around the tavern.

"He's picking up speed; we must hurry to keep up,"

A dark‑red illusory codex materialized in Ding Laji's hand, its cover bearing a Demon skull; flipping to a page, he muttered an incantation, and a towering warhorse leapt forth from nothing.

Clad in heavy armor, its eyes and hooves emitted a pale green eerie flame, illuminating the surroundings, its whole body exuding a terrifying aura.

This is the Demon sorcerer's Fear Warhorse.

The Fear Warhorse is a Demon that dwells in the Abyss, naturally bearing a fear aura that can intimidate nearby enemies.

The Demon sorcerer incorporates its demonic soul into his Demon Codex, summoning it at will as a mount.

Ding Laji leapt onto the Fear Warhorse, which immediately galloped away at breakneck speed, leaving a trail of scorched hoofprints on the ground.

"I hate this thing," Bolin said, feeling uneasy from the Fear Warhorse's aura, quickening his pace to keep distance.

He is a Swift‑Wind Demon Swordsman, famed for speed, and easily kept up with Ding Laji.

When he grew slightly concerned that Fan Haixin might fall behind, he turned his head and saw the hunter running beside him at a steady pace.

"Are cat‑style hunters usually this fast?"

Bolin was somewhat puzzled.

Hunters excel at tracking demons, and their speed is certainly not sluggish; especially cat‑style hunters, whose footwork is nimble and balanced, adept at close‑range combat movement. Purely in terms of speed they may not match a Swift‑Wind Demon Swordsman, yet Fan Haixin seemed faster than him, his face relaxed while running, as if still having energy to spare.

Lei En guessed Bolin's thoughts, chuckled twice inwardly, yet remained silent.

The three alternated between fast and slow, never losing track.

After roughly twenty minutes of pursuit, Ding Laji's speed suddenly waned; he dismounted the Fear Warhorse, returned it to the Demon Codex, and whispered, "It has stopped."

Ahead, beneath the night sky, lay a town with scattered lights glowing.

Lei En was intimately familiar with his domain; this was Dasuomu Town, home to over thirty‑thousand residents, mostly civilians and common folk, a third of whom were locals engaged in agriculture for their own plantations and farms; the remaining two‑thirds were outsiders working in nearby factories.

There are a dozen such village‑town settlements in the territory; Dasuomu is not the largest nor the most populous, ranking around fifth.

Lei En opened the map on his phone to locate Dasuomu Town.

Dasuomu Town lies in the northern central part of Gelamogen Territory, essentially the middle of the densely populated zone.

Lei En's heart tightened; the Undead Wizard was hidden here, a troubling situation.

The three, using the cover of night, approached the town, halted behind a haystack outside, and peeked to survey the interior; Ding Laji said, "I'll scout first."

He silently cast, and after a few seconds a fist‑sized eyeball was summoned.

The eyeball hovered mid‑air, entirely dark‑green.

Its pupil was vertical; upon appearing it scanned everywhere, its gaze seeming to pierce the void, and it immediately faded into invisibility.

"Go."

Ding Laji, eyes closed, let out a low command, and the eyeball instantly flew toward Dasuomu Town.

Lei En watched his technique; this was the Demon sorcerer's "Nether Eye," linking Ding Laji's sight to the Nether Eye, allowing him to see everything it perceives.

He waited patiently.

In under five minutes, Ding Laji's eyes opened: "Found it."

"How's it?" Bolin asked anxiously.

"They're hidden in a courtyard on the other side of town, three people, including the ranger, but I'm not sure there's an Undead Wizard," Ding Laji described cautiously, "They're unloading cargo; I smelled the alchemy room's scent in that courtyard, very strong, likely they're covertly brewing a large batch of Demon Elixir."

"I've never smelled this kind of demon drug before, but it feels terrifying," Ding Laji guessed, "It's very likely a poison."

"Poison!" Bolin jumped in fright.

Undead Wizard excels at refining all sorts of dreadful toxins for human experiments; to cultivators it is a terrifying presence that they dare not come into contact with.

He instantly felt a desire to retreat.

Ding Laji also hesitated, but since they had already located the Undead Wizard's whereabouts, they could return to report to the Earl of Glamorgan and simply take that thousand Gold Shields themselves.

But before he could speak, Fan Haixin was already moving toward the town.

Han Yan, it looks like Chapter Three has no plot, but there is a Chapter Two, which will come later.

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(End of Chapter)